Alpha embarrass GDF; Santos squeeze past Conquerors to set up intriguing finals

Feb 22, 2013 Sports

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By Michael Benjamin

Alpha ‘The Hammer’ United turned in a fiery display of tactical football to embarrass defending champions, Guyana Defense Force 5-0 and stake a place in the finals when action in the semi-finals of the 6th edition of the Fruta Conquerors One Love Classic knock-out football tournament was contested at the Tucville Ground, Wednesday evening last.
Santos FC was also in winners’ row and secured a hard fought 2-1 victory over Fruta Conquerors to set up a mouthwatering finals with Alpha, scheduled for Sunday February 23 next.
Alpha’s successes were shared among Anthony ‘Awo’ Abrams (1st), Gregory ‘Jackie Chan’ Richardson (13th), Selwyn Isaacs (24th) and Andrew Murray (23rd & 75th) while Santos will be grateful to William Europe (16th) and Keshon Lovell, the other.
The action started at a fast pace with Alpha’s strikers working in tandem to weave the ball to the opposition’s defensive end. Richardson dribbled the ball all the way to the box and then crossed right onto the boot of Abrams who gleefully tapped the ball past the Army custodian to complete the play. Thereafter, the exchanges were fierce with the soldiers displaying their usual brand of roughhouse football.
Alpha’s point men distributed the ball evenly but GDF striker, Marlon Benjamin managed to gain possession and delivered a fierce kick that was expertly intercepted by Alpha’s custodian. Meanwhile, Dwight Peters was working feverishly on the right wing and tested the GDF custodian with a stinger which the latter player managed to block.
The quintessential Richardson then made his presence felt, working hard along the right flank. He collected a pass midway of the field and in his usual charismatic style, weaved his way to the Army’s goal, evading several players’ interception.
The Army’s keeper attempted to curtail Richardson’s advances but stepped too far out of his birth for the dapper striker to tuck the ball to his right for Alpha’s second goal. Isaacs’ contribution followed eleven minutes later from a powerful right foot shot that sped past the goalie and settled aback the nets. When the whistle sounded for the end of the first session, Alpha enjoyed a 4-0 lead and was sailing prettily.
The soldiers started to distribute the ball in the second stanza and Benjamin almost narrowed the score line but his strike flew across the opposition’s goalmouth with no one to intercept. Thereafter, the soldiers waged a ferocious battle but found the Alpha defense impenetrable. It was also around this time that Dwight Peters received marching orders for what the referee deemed an especially dangerous tackle.
As the seconds wound down, even the uninitiated were resigned to a 4-0 defeat; Andrew Murray added a little more salt in the soldiers’ wound when he pasted their ‘keeper’ in what turned out to be the last hoorah.
Santos FC sounded an early warning when William Europe latched onto a free kick just outside the box in the 16th minute and drilled the Fruta Conquerors’ goalie. Instead of losing fate, the goal served to lift the spirits of the ‘Juice men’ and Dwayne Lawrence responded in the 28th minute with a fierce kick that the opposition’s keeper failed to intercept and the score was evened. Thereafter, both teams botched chances that saw the score line remaining at 1-1 at the halfway mark.
The battle for ascendency continued upon resumption with Santos looking ominous even as Fruta Conquerors compiled skillful passes all to no avail. The battle was indeed fierce but regulation time ended with both teams at a 1-1 stalemate.
The difference came in the 24th minute of extra time when Keshon Lovell plastered the Conqueror’s custodian with a stinging shot that held up to the final whistle.
Football, like cricket, has taken on an unpredictable aura and one could never be certain of a winner of certain matches. This could not have been more strongly underlined than in the previous edition of the K&S tournament when the underdogs, Buxton United pulled off upset wins over Western Tigers and then Alpha United before defeating Amelia’s Ward for the championship honours.
While many may be touting an easy win for ‘The Hammers’ it might be wise to note the upsets that have seen mighty teams succumbing to their weaker opponents. Santos FC will obviously enter the game cognizant of this fact.
The winning team will cart off $1.2M and trophy while the runners-up pocket half that amount. The Guyana Defense Force and Fruta Conquerors will battle in the third place playoff for $400,000 and $200,000 respectively. And then there are the bragging rights!

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